The majority of chemical products are manufactured using petroleum as a raw material. In recent years, however, the depletion of petroleum is concerned and carbon dioxide generated at the time of burning petroleum is considered as a cause of global warming. Hence, biomass-derived chemicals called carbon neutral are expected as a substitute of petroleum.
Isobutylene is one of important chemical raw materials which are converted into ethyl tert-butyl ether (ETBE), p-xylene, methyl methacrylate (MMA) and the like.
Isobutanol is produced as a byproduct at the time of producing 2-ethylhexanol by oxo reaction using water gas and propylene as raw materials.
On the other hand, isobutanol is known to be produced by the fermentation of glucose and exemplified as one of the biomass-derived raw materials. For example, it is described in Non-Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 1 that isobutylene can be produced by the dehydration of isobutanol.